Chakra spy
by tronannihilator
Summary: Naruto is caught in the chakra explosion caused by the ten tail's death. The energy rips apart his physical body and flings him- and the Kyuubi- across dimensions to end up in the mind of one Alex Rider in the middle of his mission. Suddenly, Alex has to deal with not only spy work, but also awesome ninja powers and keeping the fact that he has two more beings in his head a secret.
1. Chapter 1

NU/AR

Yeah, so, this is technically my second fanfiction. The first one was an Alex Rider/Teen Wolf xover, but that was mostly just a tester and I'm still not sure if I'm going to go back to that. I kinda want to, so I might alternate. If anyone wants to use the idea though, go ahead... But yeah. Wrote this today- kind of hit me in math. 'Cause, you know, math sucks and your mind wanders. Anyway, here goes.

Alex POV

I walked unhurriedly through the slums of Moscow, sticking to the shadows where I could. There was a job being done, only three blocks away, a human smuggling operation. The kind where young girls, whores mostly, were stolen and shipped off to whoever had the money. MI6 wouldn't have sent us in, had it not been for the fact that the prime minister's grand niece was among them.

Ben was back at the hotel, after refusing to help stop this latest shipment in favor of waiting for reinforcements. It was almost too easy to slip out the window, after disabling his alarm and then the second hidden alarm.

In the past several months, I had filled out a good bit and gained a lot more muscle. With my face, I could still make myself look thirteen or so, but currently I was wearing a tight black sweater, worn grey cargo pants, and a black skull cap. Most people hiding back here wanted to avoid the bruiser I looked like. Thus unimpeded, I stopped just beyond the line of sight to the op. A quick scan revealed at least three guardsmen around the perimeter, and one sniper on the last rooftop before the short expanse of concrete leading up to the docks.

The last one was a problem; he had a full view of the open ground surrounding the stacks of shipping containers. Which meant that to get past, I needed luck.

Thankfully, that was something I had in abundance.

Making an amateur mistake, the sniper pulled out a cigarette and lighter, giving me precious seconds to high tail it across the damp concrete and press myself against the crates. I fumbled a small scope from a pouch I had tied to my belt, turning on the night vision and and aiming at the group of seven black-clad men and a line of smaller, bound figures. There was, I realised, no way I could do this without alerting the sniper or the other guards.

I silently lifted a gun from beneath my sweater, attached by a small sling to my torso, and cocked it. It was a new model by Smithers- half the size of a normal hand gun, silenced more thoroughly. A tiny pfft of compressed air escaped as I pulled the trigger, and the the tiny red light at the end of the man's cigarette dropped. Then on to the guard facing away from me by a brick warehouse. Another pfft and he was dead too. I never missed shots.

After watching both spots for a few seconds longer, I crept around the side of the container, finding another guard a mere twenty feet away. I froze. Not two seconds later, my bullet had entered his brain.

With a jolt of horror, I watched the man's heavy machine gun slip from his hands and clatter noisily against the concrete. Okay... Maybe not so lucky.

My head jerked around at the sounds of shouting, and I decided it would be best to hide.

No sooner had I hauled myself on top of the container than a thickset man charged around the corner. He stopped at the sight of his dead comrade, whipping his head about frantically.

Noiselessly, I fell onto his shoulders and snapped his neck. I couldn't hear anyone else in the immediate area, so I moved on cautiously.

I ducked behind the crates, running silently in the chilled air until I was ten feet from the back of the container meant for the girls.

I cocked my gun and aimed it at the five men who had remained to guard the girls. Down went one, then two- cue shouting and whimpers. A third fell. Then the fourth. The men were running at me now, bringing their own guns up and firing wildly. I ducked out the way- not fast enough, and a sharp pain carved across my bicep.

I hissed and pulled a knife from my sleeve, flipping it open as the first man ran around the corner. The blade sank into his throat, stopping him cold before he sank to the ground with a gurgle.

The next man was a bit more careful, holding his gun up and firing as he jumped around the corner. Thing was, I had wall jumped off the side of the crate, flipping over his head and firing a bullet into the top of his skull. I landed unceremoniously on my arm, biting my tongue as burning pain lanced through the bullet wound.

Staggering upright, I trotted to where the girls huddled together, dressed in ratty old coats.

"I'm a friend," I told them in Russian. "Let me untie you." I repeated it in English, receiving a small gasp from a blonde near the centre of the group consisting of sixteen girls.

They offered no answer, but didn't resist when I cut through the rope on their hands or pulled their gags off. A sudden gasp from one of them gave me just enough warning to duck as a knife sliced through the air overhead.

I jumped back and whirled, finding a slim-built man with an expert grip on a knife handle.

"Great," I muttered. The man lunged forward, whipping his knife around in practiced manoeuvres that I managed to block. I sent a kick to his chest that sent him stumbling back, giving me the two seconds I needed to cock and fire my gun. The man rocked back and fell over, with a new hole through the back of his throat. I exhaled sharply and turned back to the girls as the furrow on my shoulder made itself known.

"Okay, let's get out of here-" I started to say, before the last guard, the one I hadn't even seen, clocked me with the butt of his gun. Light flashed behind my eyes before darkness took me.

Naruto's POV

Madara was completely, undeniably dead. Most of him had been incinerated. The rest was scattered. Obito likewise. Now it was down to me and Kurama vs. the ten tails.

'Ready, fox?' I asked mentally, willing a beast ball to form in my uplifted hands. This was to be the final attack. The ten tails was weakened; now the Kyuubi and I were going to force our last remaining power into this attack. My body blazed with golden chakra, channeling my reserves into it and forcing it to grow far beyond normal proportions. The result was a massive ball of flaming red destructive chakra, as tall as the hokage' tower. With a roar, I hurled it at the huge eye of the ten tails.

For a split second, the massive attack seemed to hang in the air, before exploding on contact with the massive beast.

The thing's eye evaporated under the intense energy. With a horrible screech, it whipped it head around even as the ball continued its journey through the ten tails.

The agonised screeches rose in pitch as the destructive energy worked its way deeper into the body of the beast. I watched, transfixed as its skin began to glow white.

It grew brighter as the beast's screams crescendoed. Then, suddenly, it exploded.

I just had time to widen my eyes as the massive backlash of chakra swirled violently outward, instantly engulfing me.

I screamed soundlessly as every molecule of me shredded away, and the world was ripped apart by the storm.

I moaned and sat up in forest. I rubbed my head and looked around, as the memories of what had happened moments before came back. So... Where the hell was I?

The sky was dreary, and the trees were smaller and different from the ones in Konoha. I was seated at the base of one, in a cushion of damp moss that saved my butt from the prevalent mud that seemed to make up most of the forest floor.

I stood shakily, wondering what exactly that chakra blast had done. That I had a body right now seemed wrong, somehow. I was certain it had been torn apart.

I swallowed dryly and and started to walk. Before long, I reached the edge of the forest, on a short precipice overlooking a camp of some sort. There appeared to be bunkers, and brick buildings that looked more like halls of some sort. The strange thing was, it appeared to be completely abandoned.

Without much other choice, I started walking down the cliff face and towards the camp.

The place felt eerie. Kind of depressing, too.

Cupping my hands around my mouth, I yelled, "Oi! Anyone home?"

The echoes bounced around before I heard a roar from one of the largest buildings. One that sounded suspiciously familiar...

I ran in that direction, yanking open that door to the large building. And froze.

There, lashing its tails, was the Kyuubi, inside another cage.

"K-Kyuubi...?" I stammered. "What the hell?!"

"Kit!" It growled.

"You're here? But.. Where are we?" I asked in confusion.

"Someone's mindscape," it snarled.

"Someone's- wait, what? We're in someone else's mind?" I asked, feeling lost.

"Yes," Kurama snarled. "Though I have no idea why you're here. It's certainly not your mindscape," it said.

I frowned. "This definitely needs investigating."

The fox sighed in annoyance. "Yes, but unless the seal on this gate is removed, I can go nowhere. See if you can talk to the owner of this mind."

I tipped my head. "Umm... Okay, but how do I do that?"

The fox growled. "Just close your eyes and let your mind float a bit- you start to feel the dimensions of whatever person this mind belongs to. For me, this is chakra consuming, and difficult. For you, not in a cage, it ought to be fairly simple. Just try not to fully possess them. It takes a bit more concentration to un-possess them."

"Um, okay, yeah..." I said doubtfully. Then I sat on the floor cross legged and closed my eyes.

Whatever I had been expecting, it wasn't this. Almost instantly, my perceptions of space disappeared, leaving me inside a vast glimmering network of thoughts and connections. Each line I saw, I instantly knew the purpose of; millions of tiny, shimmering beads represented memories, more spread out where I was and slowly growing denser the closet to the core of the mind I got. My own mind flew along the pathways towards the centre, bypassing the glowing beads until I reached a massive column of white light in the middle of them.

I stared at it in awe; it seemed to stretch endlessly in both directions. I stretched a finger out to brush against it- and instantly felt a wonderful warmth overcome me, enticing me further. My whole hand entered the steam, and suddenly I felt as though I had another body overlaying mine. It didn't move, but I realised then that if I continued I would gain full possession. I only wanted to communicate.

With my hand still in the stream, I called, "Hey! Yo! Can ya hear me?"

I felt a shiver travel up the column.

Alex

I groaned and rubbed my head. My cheek was pressed against cold metal. I blinked blearily as the throbbing headache returned. Sitting slowly, I found myself inside one of the shipping containers. The girls I had been trying to save were tied up again, but this time, their ankles were chained to the floor. I glanced at the door, and saw it was open. I started to shift my weight towards getting up, until I heard a clank.

Looking down, I found a chain of my own latched to a cuff around my ankle. A few of the girls were sending me scared looks- of me or the situation, I couldn't tell.

From the door, I heard muffled voices. Crap, not a lot of time to get my lock picks. Hurriedly, I started searching my coat pockets with my unbound hands. Mistake, that, to leave them untied.

I found them inside my collar lining just as a group of four men came into view of the container entrance. Before they noticed me, I was slumped against the floor again, hands hidden beneath me. The group appeared to argue outside the crate for a minute, before the conversation moved away. In an instant, I was back up, pulling the necessary wire from my collar. I pulled my feet in closer, intending to get the manacles off as quickly as possible, until a strange shiver ran through me.

I started to just shake it off, except it came back harder, leaving me with an uncomfortable tingling sensation.

'Hey! Yo! Can ya hear me?' I heard. A guy's voice, seemingly from everywhere.

I glanced around the container. It was just girls, and none of them were talking.

'Hey! If you can hear me, I'm in your mind!'

What...?

'Close your eyes, I'm going to pull you in, so we can talk face to face!'

My eyes widened in alarm as I suddenly got a killer headache, and then the oddest tugging sensation, right before the world swam, and I blacked out.

Naruto

I could feel this guy's energy totally focused in the column of light, so I figured that if I tried, I could pull him into the mindscape. Just a bit of chakra as I closed my eyes and imagined- and suddenly I was back in the little camp. Sprawled beside me was a blond guy about my age.

"What the hell..." He muttered, furiously rubbing his eyes.

I stood up. "Hey! It worked!" I said.

The guy blinked up at me in shock. "W-what worked?"

"Pulling you into your mindscape," I told him casually.

"My what?!"

"Your mind. This is what it looks like superficially. No idea what the relevance of this place is to you, but it's the basic reflection of your emotional state," I explained.

"Brecon beacons..." He muttered. "Boot Camp. Met Ben here."

"Uh, sure. Now let me explain a couple of things: I am not a natural part of your mind; I am actually a totally separate person who got caught in a massive energy blast in a separate dimension. At least, I'm pretty sure that's the case from what I saw in your memories when I was pulling you in. And I couldn't feel any chakra at all at first, so I'm assuming people here don't use it?" I asked.

"I... What? Chakra?" He looked hopelessly confused.

I nodded brightly. "Yup! Where I'm from, it's impossible to live without! And I've got a ton, which makes it really easy to use all sorts of jutsus-"

"Jutsus? I'm still kind of hung up on the fact that I'm in my mind right now. And then you said something about another dimension..." He looked down massaged his temples. "Just... What the hell, man?"

I scratched the back of my head. "Okay, I'll tell you an abbreviated version of my story, then. I'm from the elemental nations, in the land of fire. My home village was Konohagakure, or village hidden in the leaves. It's a ninja village, one of the main ones. Sixteen or so years ago, this massive demon called the nine tailed fox attacked. The thing was huge- and made entirely of chakra.

"The fourth Hokage- leader of the village- could only defeat it by sealing it in an infant, because its chakra coils could adapt to the massive amount of chakra that basically made up the beast. In doing so, my dad, the fourth Hokage, sacrificed himself and I became the demon's container.

"A couple years ago, Konoha got wind of a group called the Akatsuki who were hunting down all the containers of tailed beasts. I wasn't the only one- there were eight others- but with nine tails, my demon was the most powerful. The leader of the group, Madara, was trying to gather all the tailed beasts to rejoin them into the entity that created them: the ten tails.

"The ten tails was massive, and eventually Madara captured all the demons except mine and forced them back together in the thing's body, waking it up. So me and the Kyuubi- nine tails- worked together to defeat it. With the last bit of our chakra we formed one last giant ball of energy that more or less caused the ten tails to explode. When it blew up, it released a ton of energy. I think my physical body got ripped apart, but I'm not too sure, though I am here. Though, how exactly I got here..." I trailed off and frowned. "Huh. You know, this is really weird for me."

The guy looked shell shocked. "You mean... There's another dimension where everyone's a ninja and uses chakra to attack people, and giant demons?"

I shrugged. "Mostly." Then I grimaced. "So, uh, on the topic of demons... The Kyuubi that was sealed in me for my entire life? Well, like I said, I'm pretty sure my body got shredded. And with the blast, well, he kinda followed me here..."

The guy blinked rapidly. "The demon... Followed you... To my mind?"

I grinned sheepishly and clapped his shoulder. "Heh, yeah. You're the new container. Where I'm from, that's jinchuriki."

He seemed to be in shock. His mouth was opening and closing soundlessly. "Right, let's go meet him," I said cheerfully. "He's really not that bad."

I grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the biggest building.

"Oi! Kurama!" I called, throwing open the doors.

"What?" It growled. "Did you get him?"

I turned back to the guy behind me. He looked a bit dazed now. "Meet the nine tailed fox, Kurama!" I said in a chipper tone.

"Uh..."

The fox rolled his eyes. "Wonderful, another kit I have to look after. Please tell me you don't almost die nearly as much as the baka," he snarled. The guy blinked.

"Um... How often is that?" He asked.

"As a ninja, almost daily," I offered. "Though I've never been captured, or tortured, so it's mostly just when I'm fighting."

"Right..." The guy frowned. "Well, with me, you'll have to put up with the torture stuff too. It's hard to get away when the other team has guns and leverage."

The Kyuubi sighed. "Great. It's bad enough that I had to expend so much chakra healing Naruto in battle..."

"Naruto?"

I waved, and he nodded slightly. "I'm Alex. So, what exactly is chakra?" He asked tentatively.

Kurama snorted. "It's in everything. I wouldn't be able to survive unless you had a bit. And now that I'm here, you've got so much of it that your body won't know what to do with it, so pretty soon you'll get sick and die."

"What?!" Alex yelped.

"Unless I do this," the fox said, snaking one of his tails out and stabbing Alex in the chest faster than he could react. He gasped as it withdrew, leaving a shimmering hole straight through.

"Wh- Kurama! What the hell did you do!" I yelled. He smirked as Alex fell to his knees, coughing.

"Simply speeding up the process of assimilation," he said. In other words, he won't die. However, this ends his visit here, so hurry up and pass out!" He snarled at him. Alex did just that, slumping to the ground even as his chest began to heal. Glowing lines appeared on his cheeks as the rest of him dissolved, leaving nothing behind.

"Uh... What now?" I asked the Kyuubi.

He settled down and curled up. "Now, we wait."


	2. Chapter 2

You know what annoys me? The word blonde. People just add an e on the end because they don't get the context. As a French student, I'd like to point out that adding the e on the end makes the word feminine. In other words, you can't call a guy a blonde- they're a blond. No e.

Back to the fanfic- I'm actually continuing. Not sure why, my first chapter wasn't exactly a primo example of writing, but I guess I liked the idea enough.

As for disclaimers... Well, I never really got the point of those. Don't all the authors/ directors have to okay it in the first place to let the site use their works as a category? I'm so confused...

I gasped and jerked upright, clutching at my chest. I let out a slow sigh of relief as I found no hole. "Shit..." I breathed. I was unpleasantly tingly all over, and my chest felt tight. My forehead was uncomfortably warm.

Rolling my shoulders, I took stock of the situation. How long had I been out?

The container was still open. The girls... Didn't seem to have moved, at all. There were indistinct masculine voices arguing away from the crate. In fact, it seemed as though nothing had moved.

'That's 'cause time in your mind is warped. A day in there is maybe twenty seconds out there,' Naruto said. I stiffened.

'Not a dream then,' I thought.

'Nope!'

I sighed and grabbed the lock pick wires from where I had dropped them moments before. My legs were free in ten seconds, and I started checking what weapons I had left.

Gun gone, pouch gone, night vision scope gone, and another hidden knife had been found and taken. Which meant I still had my razor shoelaces and three more hidden knives in pockets among my clothes. I pulled out one of the knives.

Standing, I crept past the girls, and peeked around the edge of the container. Four men stood in a circle, arguing and gesturing at a couple of the dead bodies. My things were laid out on a small wooden crate beside them.

Carefully, I eased the other two knives from my pants. 'Hey Al,' Naruto said. I almost jumped.

'Those almost look like kunai, throwing knives we ninja used all the time. Can I take over for a few seconds?'

'No,' I growled.

'Please? Come on, man, I just-' I tuned him out and aimed with the first knife.

Thud. It hit dead on, cutting through the back of the man's neck. Another one flew a second later, hitting one in the eye as he tried to dodge. The other two shouted and tried to bring up their guns, until I hit one in the throat. I ran out of the container and around the side, hiding from the last one's bullets. The chatter of machine gun fire sounded briefly, and a couple holes appeared in the metal of the crate.

I continued into the veritable maze of shipping containers, almost immediately losing the man. I leapt up to haul myself on top of one again, stopping to listen for sounds of pursuit.

Nothing. My paranoia kicked into overdrive, leaving me scanning the surrounding crates intensely. My eyes almost flickered over a shadow.

Beat.

Beat.

Be- 'shit!'

I jumped back as the muzzle flash jumped from the gun, spraying bullets in my general area. One of them caught my thigh, sending me spinning in my backwards fall. I landed on my shoulder again, hissing as the pain there flared up again, deadening the rest of my arm.

"Dammit," I whispered.

'You know, you could let me help,' Naruto said conversationally. 'I'm a ninja, remember?'

'How do I know you're not going to possess me or something?' I asked warily.

'Uh, technically this is possession, but I'd give you back right after he's dead,' Naruto pleaded.

I rolled my eyes. 'Fine...'

I felt that weird tingle all over, and suddenly I wasn't able to move.

'Okay, same dimensions, this will be easy,' Naruto commented. Suddenly I was moving much faster than I ever had in the past, in front of the guy in an instant, and a sudden kick sent him flying into the air.

Naruto didn't stop there; we jumped straight up, twenty feet, and punched the guard, sending him crashing down to the concrete while we twisted to land on a shipping container. My leg protested, but Naruto kept me steady.

'Mind over matter, just push through it! We can heal it later!'

'Are there anymore?' I asked warily.

Naruto/I sniffed the air. To my surprise, I was able to pick out individual scents, including the tangy-bloody-dirty smell of the dead. Sixteen scents, closely packed, hit me from the direction of the girls. Then, another smell drifted from the buildings- this one alive, moving, and almost familiar. Four other scents surrounded it.

Naruto/I jumped down from the container I was currently crouched on and raced in that direction at speeds usually associated with race cars.

In the blink of an eye, I had one razor wire shoelace out and wrapped loosely around the throat of the first person. Naruto's presence withdrew, leaving me in control to speak.

"Who are you?" I hissed.

"Alex?" I heard the whisper of disbelief, and immediately dropped the wire in relief.

"Oh, it's just you," I said. "Hey Ben."

I took a step back and saw the other four men I'd smelled behind him decked out in SAS combat gear. "Which unit?" I asked. The short, thickset one glanced at Ben with his gun still pointed at me.

Ben rolled his eyes. "Alex, meet K-unit. Again. Wolf, say hi to Cub."

The first one let his gun swing down to his side, pulling up his mask to show the shocked face of Wolf. I blinked.

"Cub? But- you-!" He sputtered helplessly.

"You're...I thought you were just a kid?" Eagle said uncertainly, pulling off his own mask.

Snake pulled his off as well. "Fox? What the hell?"

"I don't get it," the fourth guy said, yanking his mask away. "Who's Cub?"

"I'm Cub, temporary fifth member of K-unit for two weeks before doing stuff for MI6... Two and a half years ago? Hm... I was eighteen then," I informed the new guy. Ben frowned after the last bit.

'Why did you lie?' Naruto asked curiously.

'Respect. If they knew I really was just a kid...'

"Well... It looks like you've taken care of the situation?" Ben asked dryly, glancing at one of the fallen guard's bodies.

I shrugged. "Amateurs."

"...Right. And the girls?"

"Are still in the container. I had only just finished dispatching the men when you arrived," I informed him.

K-unit replaced their masks and followed me to where the girls were chained. Upon entering the crate, several of the girls gasped and started chattering in Russian, shrinking away from me.

"What the hell are they saying?" Wolf growled.

"Calm down," I said in Russian, holding my hands up in a placating gesture. "They're reinforcements, here to help you," I said.

"You killed them! How do we know you won't kill us?" One of the younger ones whimpered.

I stopped. "Why would I try to kill you when I already told you I was helping? I killed the men because they were hurting you, and have hurt a great many others. Honestly, I'm not the good guy here, but I am trying to help," I told them. It seemed to work.

"Fox! What's he saying?" Wolf blurted in frustration. Fox shrugged.

"I don't know; Alex is the interpreter, not me."

I glanced back at Ben. "The thick one lying behind you had the keys."

Spinning, he bent over and almost immediately grabbed them from where they were clipped to a lanyard in the man's pocket. He straightened and tossed them to me as Wolf shook his head and led K-unit out of the box to take up guard positions.

I bent down and started working on the girls' chained feet.

The last one I freed was also the blonde I had pegged as the PM's grand niece, Clara. While the others had gathered in a huddle against the opposite wall of the container, she stood there, looking uncomfortable.

"...are you just here to stop the operation?" She asked cannily. If I were another potential kidnapper, something like 'do you know who I am' might've tipped me off to the fact she was someone of importance. So instead, I said, "Of course not, ma'am, I was sent primarily for you. I am agent Rider of MI6. That's my parter, agent Daniels. The rest are K-unit. Thus far, our retrieval mission has been a success. However, we will have to wait until morning to return home." Proper, professional.

'Damn, you sound like someone shoved a stick up your ass,' Naruto marvelled. A brief scowl crossed my face. 'Shut it.'

"Ben?" I asked aloud. "Have you called the clean up crew?"

The girl blinked. "What a harmless way of putting it," she said faintly, leaning out to stare at one of the bodies.

I had a slight wince. "Sorry about that. Though it sounds harsh, that's our job. The clean up crew will relocate the other girls, and take care of the... Mess. Most likely, they'll arrive within half an hour. Now, if you'll follow me..." I said, noticing Ben ending the call.

"Clean up'll be here in fifteen. We had best get a move on. Grab Clara and we'll go back to the hotel." He fixed me with a baleful glare. "I was woken by the phone informing me that backup had arrived. I go to wake you up, but were you there? No! My parter had already left, without informing me. I swear, if you didn't hold the spot of top agent..." He muttered angrily. I shrugged unapologetically.

"Hey, last time we waited for backup it was a good twenty four hours, and when I finally decided to go without I only just managed to stop those dignitaries from being killed. The so-called backup arrived an hour after that, and got uppity with me!" I complained.

"Yes, and they spent the next day in the hospital, I remember," Ben grumbled. I nodded sagely and gently led Clara away from the container and to the box my things were still resting on.

I stuck my gun back under my shirt, as well as the knife. I picked up the pouch with my scope and other assorted gadgets and clipped it to my belt again. Ready to go, I pivoted on one leg- and gasped as I was painfully reminded of the bullet in my leg.

"Ngh," I grunted and fell to one knee, clutching my leg.

"Alex?" Ben asked. His eyes widened. "Al!" He ran toward me and dropped beside me. "What happened?"

"The last one hit me," I bit out.

"And you were walking on it?!" He asked in disbelief. "Al!"

"Sorry," I said sheepishly. There was a small gasp behind me. Turning my head, I saw Clara begin to sway and jumped up just in time to catch her. Her weight made me stumble on my one good leg, until Ben stabilised me.

Giving me a look, he hoisted Clara over his shoulder and pushed a hand down on mine. I sat down on the concrete dock, and rifled through my pouch until I found a roll of gauze. I rolled my pant leg up until the cold air brushed the edges of the hole.

I gritted my teeth and dug a finger into the wound, finding the bullet and pulling it out with a choked-back scream. A shadow cast by a floodlight fell over me, and I looked up to see Snake standing above me with a worried frown.

"Shit, Cub, how the hell'd you manage to get roped into this?" He murmured, and crouched down.

"I was too curious for my own good and investigated my uncle's death," I told him bluntly. He glanced up sharply in the middle of unrolling the gauze and bandage.

"And you just became a spy?"

I shrugged. "Yeah." I bit my tongue as he wrapped my leg up, not bothering to clean the blood off yet. That would be easier to do in the hotel with running water.

I heard a rumble and smelled the sour-bitter scent gas of the car Ben had started. Said car- a simple silver BMW- rolled around the corner of a building a block away and drove towards us.

Stopping a few feet away, Ben got out and opened the door of the backseat. "Get him in, we need actual medical help as soon as possible."

"Actual medical help? I'm hurt, Fox," Snake grumbled good-naturedly with a slight edge to his voice as he helped me stand and hop in the car. Clara was propped against the window on the other side.

No sooner than the door was shut had Ben jumped in the driver's seat and zoomed off. I settled in for the short drive, looking forward to the warm shower and bed that awaited.

Holy crap, I got a review. Seriously guys, I got a review. Within the first day, no less! I'm probably overreacting here, but I like reviews...

Also, I'm probably going to be updating with slightly shorter chapters unless it's something that requires longer. Otherwise, I lose interest and it becomes an assignment, my work degrades, etc. I might even stop altogether if I tried to do long chapters. So, please don't be too peeved. (BTW, ever tried using 'peeved' in casual conversation? Depending on who your friends are, it gets funny real quick.)

Anyway, 94, of course Naruto's gonna be let out a bit- wouldn't have it any other way. This story's eventually going to get around to Brooklyn Prep. Possibly with Clara... I kind of made her up on the spot, 'cause Alex need a plausible mission. No way '6 would send him to Russia just to stop a small time group like that; had to be someone of importance to national security. And a girl of Alex/Naruto's age is an open possibility. Let me know your ideas, or be stuck with mine. Ciao for now!


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